National Basketball Association

[okatty]

Random NBA Trivia - With win tonight Pacers are the #8 seed in East and will face Hawks as #1 seed. Last year Pacers were the 1 seed and Hawks were #8. FIrst time in NBA history that top seed and bottom seed have switched places in back to back years. Recall that Hawks took the 1-seed Pacers to 7 games last year. Pacers were down 3-2 and had to win games 6 and 7 to advance.

[Laramie]

Russell Westbrook wins NBA scoring title.

Russell Westbrook won the NBA scoring title, but he?d rather have a playoff spot | For The Win

2014-15 Regular Season NBA Player Stats and League Leaders - Scoring Per Game - National Basketball Association - ESPN

[okatty]

Spurs have to play Clippers, with Clips having home court adv. instead of playing Dallas and Spurs having home adv. Pretty huge game last night. Give Pelicans credit - they won a huge game when it counted.

Houston gets Dallas and winner of that gets winner of Spurs - Clips. Prize for getting thru that is probably Warriors. West is BRUTAL.

[Laramie]

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Oklahoma City...

Hell hath no fury like a city scorned. The Seattle-area, sworn enemy of the Oklahoma City Thunder and their owner Clay Bennett, must have experienced some wonderful schadenfreude when the Thunder missed the playoffs on Wednesday night thanks to a New Orleans Pelicans win over the San Antonio Spurs...

Shawn Kemp Is Co-Hosting A Party In Seattle To Celebrate The Thunder Missing The Playoffs

As a parting gift to former teammate, Enes Kanter, the Utah Jazz's Trevor Booker decided to hit him with some end-of-the-season shade after the Thunder missed the playoffs.

Trevor Booker would like to remind Enes Kanter the Thunder missed the playoffs - SBNation.com

[Celebrator]

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Oklahoma City...



Shawn Kemp Is Co-Hosting A Party In Seattle To Celebrate The Thunder Missing The Playoffs



Trevor Booker would like to remind Enes Kanter the Thunder missed the playoffs - SBNation.com

Now I know why Seattle is called the Emerald City...that's the color of envy!

[Urbanized]

Whatever. I don't mind the Booker thing, since they obviously have bad blood and since Kanter hasn't been shy about dogging the situation at Utah. Kanter will likely get the last laugh anyway. He's about to make a truckload of money that he wouldn't have made there, and he's far more likely to win a ring here.

The Kemp is just him pandering to the home crowd. And we can sit here and dog Seattle all we want, but true Sonics fans have every right to be pissed. They just misplace a lot of their anger.

[okatty]

Anyone have any upset predictions for NBA first round series? Kinda like the Mavs to give the Rockets all they want. Wouldn't mind seeing the #2 seed upset. Clips - Spurs series looks like a dandy.

[Sonny_Crockett]

Hopefully LeBron tears his ACL in the playoffs. He's getting another free pass but atleast Kendrick Perkins gets another ring this year.

[Anonymous.]

Looking at your post history, I am not sure how you are not banned here.

That comment is not something any sports fan would say. You should be ashamed of wishing such a thing, and if you do call yourself a Thunder fan, then you only bring shame to our fanbase. Please leave.

[okatty]

Spurs - Clips was only one of the first round series tied after 2 games. Spurs are favored by 4.5 tonight in SA. This series is looking like a Rocky fight. Still kinda like the Clippers to win the series but game 2 was a great performance by Spurs especially Duncan.

[okatty]

Perk gets into it today with his old team (Celts). Would have been more discussion had JR Smith not pulled his stunt later in the game.

[okatty]

Spurs...WOW! What a game last night. Really thought Clips woudl win that and take charge of series. Don't count out Tim D at 39 years old!

[okatty]

Spurs Clips series is really good. GREAT games. Whoever wins this, the next series with Rockets should be really good too.

Warriors Grizz will be good. Bulls - Cavs. Man, some good stuff in NBA despite Thunder being home.

[okatty]

What a game - Bulls over Cavs to go up 2-1. Thibs was gonna have some questions to answer about not fouling on the JR Smith 3 and but then D-Rose bailed him out on the game winner.

[Laramie]

Bill Simmons and ESPN part ways after failed contract negotiations

(President of ESPN John) Skipper said that the differences between the company and Simmons were “about more than money,” although he would not offer details. He added: “We’ve had an excellent run with Bill, almost 15 years. It’s been good for us and good for him. It was a decision I had to make and he had to make to move forward.”

Don't Mess with Bill... FOX, CBS & NBC 'you better leave him alone...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-tu...144805002.html

[Snowman]

As much as he is about his own brand, it does not surprise me he thinks he is worth vastly more than others would.

[okatty]

Wild finish today in Chicago. LJ hits a biggie!

[dankrutka]

As much as he is about his own brand, it does not surprise me he thinks he is worth vastly more than others would.

It's important to note the big difference between monetary and cultural value. Monetarily, Skip Bayless is valuable to ESPN. Culturally, Bill Simmons, like him or not, both revolutionedsports writing/coverage in the digital age and promoted high quality sports writing with Grantland and the 30 for 30 series that's been lacking. Here's a good article: https://medium.com/the-cauldron/sad-...n-658116b5d249

Having said that, Simmons definitely brings on a lot of his own criticism. But if ESPN is firing him because even partially because of his Roger Goodell criticism then we know who ESPN is selling out to...

[Laramie]

The concern about public media figures who are as opinionated as guys like Bill Simmons, Stephen A. Smith & Skip Bayless are that they eventually say something that offends someone. The telecast media giants will protect their reputations at the expense of individuals that are viewed as being too big to fire.

Was Bill Simmons problem exasperated when he called out ESPN on a dare; you decide?

The drama behind Bill Simmons' exit from ESPN | Fox News

[okatty]

Surprised Monty Williams was fired by the Pelicans. Some quick speculation about Scott Brooks landing there. Not a bad gig to coach KD and RW and then head to Big Easy and coach A. Davis!

[Laramie]

NBA vacancies in New Orleans, Orlando & Denver with interims named in the latter two.

There is no shortage of good NBA head coaches available that each of these three teams should take a look at it. Here are some of the top available coaching candidates:

NBA News & Rumors: Available Head Coaches & Candidates | Heavy.com

[Laramie]

Klay Thompson's dad: Warriors will 'go hard' for Kevin Durant

Appearing on his Bay Area radio show, Thompson said he "heard it on good authority, ... that they're gonna go hard after Kevin Durant."

Oklahoma City Thunder - NBA - CBSSports.com

Since when in the hell did we become somebody's farm team?

[okatty]

Absolutely CRAZY Rockets - Clips game 6 last night. Clips up 19 toward end of 3rd quarter and found themselves down 15 late in the 4th! They shot 18% from field in 4thqtr and got outscored 40-15! Oh Harden was on the bench. Josh Smith and Corey Brewer were on fire. Brewer was +20 in his 20 minutes of play.

[Anonymous.]

Wow. I went to bed heading into the 4th thinking it was over.

[Urbanized]

EVERYBODY is going to "go hard" for KD. Problem is, a max deal is a max deal is a max deal. Nobody can outbid anyone else, so the ONLY variable is situational, not monetary. Can a team offer KD a better chance of winning a ring? Are they willing to go substantially over the cap to acquire the teammates that will get him that ring? That's really all that it boils down to. GS is already built to be a championship-caliber team, but how much of the existing team will have to be dealt to make room for KD?

If OKC stays healthy next year it is as suited as any team in the league to win it all. If they DO win it, I think it is nearly-guaranteed that he re-signs here. But if everything falls apart yet again, THAT is when we should get very nervous. At that point the ticking clock of his career becomes our enemy.

Frankly I'm a lot more worried about re-signing Russell the NEXT year. We were able to essentially max him - including a five year deal - thanks to what was basically a loophole in the CBA. It allowed us to be one of the only teams (if not THE only) to carry two five year max players under the new CBA. The lack of the ability to carry a third is a part of the reason for the Harden trade. We could only offer him four years, Houston and others could give him five.

When Russell's contract is up, we won't be able to offer him a five year max deal even though we would surely be willing to do so. Other teams WILL be able to do so. Other organizations will have a financial edge in the Russell sweepstakes; they DON'T (and can't) have a financial edge in the KD negotiations no matter how "hard" they go.